Kate’s Review: “Supergirl: Being Super”

Book: “Supergirl: Being Super” by Mariko Tamaki, Joelle Jones (Ill).

Publishing Info: DC Comics, June 2018

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Book Description:She’s super-strong. She can fly. She crash-landed on Earth in a rocket ship. But for Kara Danvers, winning the next track meet, celebrating her 16th birthday and surviving her latest mega-zit are her top concerns. And with the help of her best friends and her kinda-infuriating-but-totally-loving adoptive parents, she just might be able to put her troubling dreams–shattered glimpses of another world–behind her.

Until an earthquake shatters her small town of Midvale…and uncovers secrets about her past she thought would always stay buried.

Now Kara’s incredible powers are kicking into high gear, and people she trusted are revealing creepy ulterior motives. The time has come for her to choose between the world where she was born and the only world she’s ever known. Will she find a way to save her town and be super, or will she crash and burn?

Caldecott Honor and Eisner Award-winning writer Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer) combine forces for this incredible coming-of-age tale! This is the Girl of Steel as you’ve never seen her before.

Review:Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, has recently had something of a pop culture renaissance. The success of the CW show “Supergirl” has had a huge hand in that, as it has brought Kara to the forefront for the past few years. I enjoy “Supergirl” for the most part, and I think that it does do Kara justice, but what we didn’t get from that show was Supergirl’s teenage years, instead putting her solidly in her early twenties when it began. I think that part of the appeal of Supergirl initially was that she is a teenager, and therefore has the usual trials and tribulations that a teenage girl would have (though back when she was first created a lot of that was steeped in sexism of the time). So while I’ve enjoyed the TV version of Kara, and the “Bombshells” version of her as well, I was really hoping to get a new take on a teenage Kara eventually. And my hopes were answered thanks to Eisner Award Winner Mariko Tamaki, who wrote the mini series “Supergirl: Being Super”.

Mariko Tamaki has been at the graphic novel game for awhile, with one of her more notable books being “This One Summer”. This story is about early teenage girls spending the summer at a cabin, and focuses on coming of age themes as well as learning about some sad truths about the world. It’s a quiet and emotional story, and therefore Tamaki is the perfect person to helm a Supergirl origin story. This version of Kara has loving family and good friends, but her powers have been kept secret from most people in her life. While she understands why they need to be kept secret, we’re told in bits and pieces the cost of hiding her identity from those around her has had in her life. Life is hard enough when you’re a teenager trying to find yourself, it’s even harder when you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know why you are the way you are, and you have to keep it inside. Much like “This One Summer”, “Supergirl: Being Super” has a lot of heartbreaking and poignant themes and moments, with Kara going through loss and and identity crisis at the heart of the story. After a horrific trauma happens to her and the rest of the town, and someone close to her dies, Kara begins to spiral. The pain that she is going through, as well as seeing her parents trying to help her get through it while letting her know her pain is valid and real, led to many a teary eyed moment as I read this book. Kara is flawed and angsty, but she is also bright and friendly and very real, and I loved the arc that she followed in this story.

Tamaki also created a lovely cast of characters to be in Kara’s life. From her parents to her mentors and her friends, the supporting characters are all well rounded and add depth and vibrancy to the story. The two who I would argue are the most important are her two best friends, Liz and Dolly. They are all on the track team together, and their conversations and interactions were all very true to life and familiar to me, as someone who was a teenage girl once. Additionally, I liked that while they are all best friends with similar interests, they are also pretty different as well, having their own unique personalities that contribute different things. And even the antagonists in this book (and there are a few) are so well structured and characterized that the reader can see where they are coming from, and why they do the things that they do, even if they are ultimately terrible things.

And do not worry. Krypton plays a large role in this story too, even if Kara is well beyond her time on that doomed planet. It isn’t a Superman or Supergirl story unless Krypton is involved, and Tamaki made it feel fresh and original.

The artwork is done by Joelle Jones, who I have reviewed here for her “Ladykiller” series. I love Jones’s artwork and style, and I think that she brings such vibrant detail to these characters, as well as making them all so original and unique.

I cannot recommend “Supergirl: Being Super” enough. I love the story that Tamaki and Jones have given Kara, and while I know that there are no official plans for Tamaki to continue the story I am holding out hope that DC will beg her to come back and give us more.

Rating 9: A wonderful and fresh origin story for Supergirl, “Supergirl: Being Super” is a great story for fans of Supergirl of all ages.